Tectonic Shift
by spliced teacup
Summary: Role reversal: Lightning and Hope are the crystallized intruders on Gran Pulse, Fang and Vanille are assigned with the task of getting rid of the Cocoon natives. Hope/Lightning.


_A/N: Ugh just a warning this fic is super old. I might do some more drabbles based on the universe..._

Waking up in the abandoned Earthworks leaves Hope feeling a little light-headed, his brand is burning and Lightning is sleeping on the ground next to him. She comes to and is just as puzzled as he is. The bright blue lights of the experimental facility are replaced by the heat and sulphur in the air, all she can see is dirt browns. She breathes, they're not in Gapra anymore. Hope, however is too engrossed with his brand, pulling back the yellow handkerchief that covers it and poking at it. She can see it, looking like a strange disfigurement on his skin, a nasty frosted colour over the standard black. The memory of how it came to be like that still fresh in her mind. Too much pain and screaming. She reaches out and pulls his hand away.

Hope stops. "It burns."

Her brand thankfully, is still the same.

The mines are stiff from disuse, lights hanging overhead flicker on and off from time to time. They get lost along one of the passages, only to find their way back to where they woke up. Hope dawdles behind, just like he did in the Gapra Whitewoods, clinging to Lightning for both safety and reassurance. She doesn't deny him as much as she used to when they were both l'Cie starting off. It was a bizarre set of circumstances that led to it, him accidentally wandering into a Fal'Cie lair on his way home from school, a shortcut he used often; her, willingly volunteering herself to be marked and being assigned Hope as a partner to train.

Hope is enchanted by the rusted machines found within the caverns. He presses his hands on the dead pieces of machinery, trails after the Atomos Fal'Cie and it's only then that he realizes something truly horrible. This isn't Bodhum, Palumpolum, this isn't even Cocoon.

This is Pulse.

He knows, the people are miners, farmers. People on Cocoon do not have mines, they never needed it. Not when the Fal'Cie(at least before PSICOM took over) provided everything.

He recognizes a few other artifacts he's sure is from Pulse. Lightning is adamant that they aren't on Pulse. The argument takes an ugly turn when magic gets involved: in a fit of raw emotion, Hope unleashes a firestorm that nearly collapses the already crippled mine pinning Lightning to one side and himself to the other. From her side, Lightning screams at Hope to stay where he is. He doesn't listen, picks himself up and leaves Lightning pleading to the air.

* * *

Sazh is aware of the rumours surrounding the Mah'habara Earthworks, there are crystallized Cocoon natives somewhere in one of the winding paths. The mine hasn't been in use since pieces of the above world rained down on it around the turn of the century, after Gran Pulse emptied the nest of vipers above. Cocoon. A distant memory but an enticing piece of history to a six year old, Dajh is already running up to the mines and before Sazh can call out to him, bumps into a boy barely on the cusp of adolescence. He blinks, then walks away looking as lost as ever.

He doesn't think much on the boy, there are villages spaced out on the Archlyte Steppe. Most are farmers living off the land. Close to Namva live Chocobo farmers, where generations ago Sazh's ancestors once made their living. He drops by every now and then to catch up with some of his friends.

* * *

There's a voice coming from the depths of the mines, at first Sazh thinks nothing of it. Air coming from one of the many tunnels or tiny creatures making too much noise but as he draws closer to it, he's certain it's a human. His suspicions are confirmed when he finds a collapsed passage. Someone is frantically screaming from the other side.

In between the stranger's ragged breaths Sazh manages to get a few words in, telling the person to calm down and that he'll get her out. He claws his way through the rubble, with the girl tearing down anything in her path. When they finally do meet face to face, Sazh is surprised. The girl looks in her early twenties and has a surly disposition as she wordlessly pushes past him into one of the larger passages. Her clothes are strange and he can't quite place her accent, maybe one of the tribes living close to Taejin's Tower?

She asks him about Cocoon, she shouldn't be by herself, Sazh knows this. Dajh doesn't seem to mind the extra company either, as he quizzes Lightning on everything and Sazh can see her trying to be gentle but struggling not to snap at the boy's inquisitive nature.

Pulse is more homely than Lightning initially imagined, people come and go from Sazh's house (if it could be called that). Sazh himself doesn't mind the intrusions, doesn't mind people poking into his cupboards and taking what they need.

It's not enough to deter her from marking Dajh, she does it with the moonlight as her witness and all she can think of is how much warmer Hope's hands were when she held it.

Sazh is spiraling from the discovery of the mark. The villagers of Paddra are sympathetic to his pleas, they offer brief condolences before pointing him to Oerba, the largest and most diverse village on Pulse. Surely, they would be able to provide answers where others could not.

* * *

The village elder assigns Fang to Sazh.

Fang starts talking about Focuses, Cie'ths, marks and other terms that hasn't been used since the War of Transgression.

As they are immersed in their conversation, Vanille bounds in with a sullen looking boy, whom Sazh recognizes from the Mah'habara mines.

Fang watches the two out of the corner of her eye, how the boy had managed to survive the journey from the Archlyte Steppe to Taejin's Tower was a mystery, Vanille had only gone there for prayers to their benevolent Fal'Cie and found Hope on the brink of death, leaning on the entrance way. Since then, they were inseparable; Vanille always seemed like the doting type to Fang.

Hope misses Lightning terribly. He'd even gone back to Mah'habara for her but she wasn't there, he'd kept moving just like she'd told him many times before. Eventually he'd made his way to the ends of the tunnel straight into Vanille's sympathetic arms. She dotes on him and as the days pass by, Hope can see more of his mother in her than he ever did with Lightning.

He shows Vanille the mark when they are supposed to be asleep. Slowly, he unravels the handkerchief covering the mark and as it catches in the candlelight, he hears her gasp. She runs her fingers along it, grips Hope's wrist as if unsure of what to do or say. Dajh too is watching from his spot close to Vanille and at first neither notices until he runs up to Hope and grabs at him, nearly tipping over the candle.

For a brief second all is still as Dajh crystallizes in front of them.

* * *

Their reunion is nothing short of heartbreaking. Hope is shaking from either relief or just sadness, Lightning holds him tight. Fang tightens her grip on Vanille.

Sazh can't bring himself to confront Lightning, can't scream at her for what she did to Dajh, not when those same hands that cursed his own son holds onto Hope's in such reassurance. He understands that it is not an act of cruelty that she marked Dajh but one to preserve the love she shared with Hope.

* * *

Their former home is falling on their new home, Hope understands the sacrifice they must make for their new family. He nods to Lightning, who is holding his hand. Above them, he can hear Vanille's cries. It's hard not to imagine her disappointment, not after her invitation to live the rest of his days with her on Pulse. He takes a deep breath, Lightning reaches her free hand to his.

They hold onto each other, diving deeper into the depths of Pulse.

And when the smoke clears, they are still holding onto to each other, long after Hope's parents are buried in the ground, and even longer than Serah and Snow have been married because all they had when waking up was one another.


End file.
